Game Of Thrones, The Shadow Line, The Killing, Running Wilde

Chris’s blog is reminding me I haven’t talked about what’s on in ages. Here’s what I’m watching and why.

Game of Thrones

Most of PC Gamer have devoured George R R Martin’s fantasy novels whole or in part – not me. My reading habits are based on identifying the shortest possible thing worth reading, reading half of it, then forgetting it exists. So I was extra glad to have the apparently awesome series turned into shiny pictures and shouty sounds for me.

It’s awesome. I was loving it even from the very slow first episode, before any characters establish themselves as particularly likeable. Now that it’s kicked off, the characters are actually more exciting than the action. It’s a series in which I can’t remember anyone’s name, but can describe who I’m talking about at work the next day in just a few words. Although in one case those words are “The guy who always sounds like he’s narrating a videogame intro” (the ex-slave trader).

Everyone had told me the books were brutal, which put me off, but I see the appeal now. It has just enough heart to make you genuinely care, and just enough guts to exploit it.

The Shadow Line

Intricate new BBC drama about the assassination of a drug lord and the two parties investigating it: the police and his former henchmen. I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting this to be good, but I wasn’t and it is. The deceased’s nephew plays unhinged with sociopathic ease, and Chiwetel Ejiofor (bad guy from Serenity) manages to make even an amnesia plotline darkly intriguing.

Tracking two parties pursuing the same leads, it doesn’t shy away from the repetition that naturally entails. Instead it uses it as a character profiling technique: three very different men all interrogate the same two associates of a missing man, and which one they each choose to call when they hear from him tells us everything we need to know about what they fear or care about most.

The Killing

A crime series that revolves entirely around one murder, based on a Danish series of the same name. I’m watching it partly out of curiosity about how well one investigation stretches over 13 hours of television, partly because it has the amazing Michelle Forbes in it, and partly because it rains a lot. Apparently that never stops feeling atmospheric.

I’ll tell you what doesn’t stretch well over 13 hours of television: a character subplot whereby the main detective is juuuust about to leave for California at all times, she’s just hanging around to chase this one last lead, then she’s going, definitely this time. That starts in episode one, which is not coincidentally the same moment it starts to feel false and ridiculous.

Running Wilde

Comedy by the creator of Arrested Development, starring Will Arnett (Gob) and occasionally Peter Serafinowicz. I’d heard little about it, and nothing positive except that The Onion didn’t think it was as unfunny as people were saying it was. Turns out it’s great. It has a lot of the same subtle wordplay and neat farces as Arrested Development – including a ridiculous number of sly references to that series – but actually makes me laugh more. It sticks more closely to its two main characters, which is good because one of them is Will Arnett.

9 Replies to “Game Of Thrones, The Shadow Line, The Killing, Running Wilde”

I’m really enjoying Game of Thrones, I don’t think I’ve actually enjoyed TV this much in quite a while and it’s certainly nice to see a ‘fantasy’ world treated with this level of respect (due to the books, I’m sure). The dwarf is an excellent character and very well acted, probably my favourite at the moment.

Although I’ve found that the ex-slave trader’s voice has actually become the sound of my internal monologue, (mixed in with a bit of Robert Bathurst’s voice from his reading of A Dream of Armageddon).

I didn’t know that The Killing had been translated. I’m watching the Danish one at the moment, about half way through (it clocks in at twenty hours). I really liked the Swedish Wallander – let’s hear it for the Scandinavian crime thriller massive.

Trying to not have spoilers here, but even the generality of my statements might not be enough if you’re aching for everything to surprise.

In the first ten episodes, about eight hours have been taken up by investigations into people acting suspicious when questioned by the police about their whereabouts on the night of the murder, only to have it turn out that they were just doing something entirely innocent but they didn’t want to tell anyone in case of the consequences – embarrassment apparently being less preferable than convictions for kidnap, sexual assault and murder. I didn’t know Denmark had such strict societal rules.

Hah. That’s like the longest episode of Castle ever. If I was a cop, I’d start every interrogation with “Would you like to be convicted of murder, or the thing you were really doing on the night of the 16th?” All the red herrings would fess up and save time, and I’d know the real murderer because he’d have to really think about it.

And now I’m remembering an old GK Chesterton Father Brown where a man nearly was framed for murder because he pretended to be his own manservant, saying he was out, to duck an interview with a reporter and keep reading a really good book.

And I’m also thinking of totally legal actions that I would prefer to be tried for murder than have as public knowledge. Not many, but they exist, especially if I was reasonably sure other evidence would clear me.

‘I would rather be framed than admit something shameful until the last minute’ is every minute of every episode of every flavour of Law and Order. I know TropesAreNotBad, but in this case it’s the largest of the many reasons to pay absolutely no attention to those shows.